Mount Pleasant Christian Day School (Chesapeake, Virginia, USA)

The Mount Pleasant Christian Day School in Fentress, Virginia, was founded by the Mount Pleasant Mennonite (MC) Church, and opened in the fall of 1941 with one teacher and seven grades. Since then the eighth grade and first and second years of high school have been added. For a few years the school was conducted in a reconditioned store building, but later had permanent quarters in a 30-by-40-foot, two-room concrete block structure in 1949, located at 1613 Mount Pleasant Road. With several additions over the years, the building grew to 3,200 square feet at that same location. In 1994 Mount Pleasant added a 10,000-square-foot addition, changing its look from that of an old-fashioned one-room schoolhouse to one like the new public schools in its Great Bridge neighborhood.

The work originally was financed by the Mount Pleasant Mennonite Church, for the most part by freewill offerings taken in the regular morning church sessions twice a month, and operated by a board of trustees chosen by the congregation. The teachers of the school were all Mennonites and originally the children for the most part came from the Mennonite homes of the community. In 1994 eighty-three students, from kindergarten through eighth grade, attended the school. Tuition ranged from $1,250 per year for a kindergarten student to $1,950 per year for an eighth-grader. By 1994, less than half of the student body were Mennonites. Students came from many denominations and a wide variety of backgrounds.

It is the purpose of the school to give the children a Christian education under a wholesome environment. The school is open to all, regardless of ability to support it.